Rachel Weiss 2
Genetic Modification Genetic modification, otherwise known as genetic engineering, provides an enormous range of possibilities including: treating and preventing diseases, feeding the hungry, etc. Ethical concerns come in when people start questioning whether genetically modified animals or humans should have rights. Though we haven't gotten very far in cosmetic genetic modification in humans, protesters get enraged when parents make genetic modifications on behalf of their children when they're too young to understand it or just not born yet! For example, parents are now able to determine the sex and eye or hair color of their child. While this may seem like a fun thing to do, I think that it is all about vanity. Half of the fun when having a baby is being able to recognize features from the parents in the babies themselves. Arthur Caplan from the University of Pennsylvania recommends that parents are required to go through counseling before they make a huge cosmetic decision in their child’s life: “is this that important to me? Does it really make a difference?” What if a parent wants their kid to be genetically modified so that they’ll be smarter? Years down the road, the kid may not be doing well in school and the parents will most likely come back for a lawsuit. On another note, when consuming genetically modified beef or corn, people question what, if any, health risks are associated with eating formulated diets. Honestly, it is so easy for a crop to be contaminated by GMO’s (genetically modified organisms). GMO’s can be transferred crop-to-crop easily just from the wind and farmers would have no idea. Even though scientists say that GMO’s are totally harmless, they refuse to put a GMO label on the packages of foods that have been genetically modified. So how would we even know if they’re safe? Nearly 80% of all organic crops have been contaminated by GMO’s. While it’s very easy to test whether your crops have been contaminated, it very hard to even notice a difference in the first place that would make you feel like you needed to get a test done. However, most recently, scientists have looked into the idea of using corn as a natural fuel instead of oil. After much speculation, it was determined that 30% of our corn supply would be needed to produce 3% of our oil supply; that simply isn’t worth it. Last but not least, people go so far as to think that there is an issue of breaching the boundaries of species. Depending on how far we progress, that may be possible. For example, if we modify a horse to have human-like capabilities, does that horse then have rights? Rights to, for example, to not be contained in a small facility by a human? While that is an extreme scenario, that may be the future. Additionally, who will have access to these advancements and who will regulate it? Though I cannot answer any of these questions myself, I think that this controversy will only become more and more popular over the next 10-15 years.